talking from an experienced reefkeeping perspective ive taken a chance on many fish i have seen at my LFS, and luckily i have been blessed on the most part when buying fish even if i have taken some that are not exactly in peak condition,

i generally do not quarantine, i know its a risk and a sin in every reefers eyes but honestly i cant see many reefers quarantining especially a delicate fish due to its needs to get it feeding and established asap.

in short my losses have been minimal and limited to the newly introduced speciemin if i have sufferred a fatality.

the actual question i have is based on the lfs's tanks, they seem to recieve fish which are in good health on arrival and a few days later the fish become ill, i attribute this to both pressure put onto the filters of their holding facility due to to compounded shipments and a result of the fishes immune system being more suceptable to disease due to starvation prior to the fish traveling to eliminate ammonia in the limited water they have in the packaging.

what are important factors to you when purchasing the fish over and above the basics of good eating ability?

do you take the risk of this window of oppourtunity when fish still arrive or do you still leave the fish and try assess its health a few days or perhaps a week later?

AdSGuest

I had my eye on a Lamarck angel, as it landed. But as luck had it, was on my way out of town and would not be able to QT it, never mind drip it. So I left it. 5 days later, when I returned, the mark on its side become very noticeable. Plus a new mark (or maybe old but not noticable) on its head.

I let it be. Couple of days later, even worst.

Did it had the marks on the first day? Not sure. Should I had made time to drip it, not sure.

Cannot say.

But generally, I prefer to get fish out of the holding systems as fast as possible, before they can become infected. But that means freshly landed fish, that did not even settle down. Or perhaps not even eating yet.